Railways tests new BOXNS freight wagons at 110 kmph

The Indian Railways has conducted speed trial -- up to 110 kmph -- of the new BOXNS wagons with the 25-tonne axle load on the newly built 193 km Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) on Friday.

A senior Railway Ministry official said, here on Saturday, the Research Design and Standards Organisation of the Railways conducted the trial on the Western DFC -- Phulera to Ateli.

During the trial, the train attained an average speed of 86 kmph. The official termed it a big breakthrough and said the railways had to wait for the last 40 years "ever since we got the Casnub bogie design for the freight wagons".

He said the BOXNS wagons cleared 100 kmph in both loaded and empty condition on the DFC. According to railway officials, the freight wagons normally run at 60 kmph with 22.9-tonne axle load and at 45 kmph with 25-tonne axle load on few routes.

The Railways is constructing the DFC equipped for heavy-haul train operation. The Rs 81,459 crore project received the Cabinet's nod in 2006 and has since then missed several deadlines due reasons, like procedural wrangles, land acquisition and environment clearances.

Passing through nine states and 60 districts, the project is divided in Western and Eastern corridors.

The DFC will have 48 stations/junctions along the Western DFC and 58 on the Eastern DFC. The Western DFC covers 1,504 km from the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust near Navi Mumbai to Dadri in UP, traversing through Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Palanpur, Phulera and Rewari. The Eastern DFC covers 1,856 km from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni, near Kolkata, in West Bengal, and will travel through Haryana, UP, Bihar and Jharkhand.

The DFC is expected to complement the Indian economy with an increased number of freight trains in eastern and western sectors.IANS